To support companies enhance their cybersecurity, an eminent transformation strategist and technopreneur, Matt White laid the bedrock foundation of XaaS Ltd to provide excellence and innovation in the protection of digital data and empower their transformation journey.
The driven, rock climbing, author, and father of 2 girls (Thea, 6 and Vala, 9), Matt began his career fixing computers and giving businesses support when he was in his early teens. From then he moved to development in the dot com boom, covering infrastructure, resilience, and leading into consultancy.
The Life-Changing Incident
When Matt was 12, he injured his wrist and when 13 I was diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain (CRPS), a chronic pain condition rated as the most painful condition you can suffer by the McGill Pain Index. It is a nerve condition that causes constant burning 24/7. Where he has had it so long (30 years) it’s spread to his left wrist, right foot, and even his internal organs so he has intense pain when swallowing and he was sick every night due to issues with his stomach. And, he used to work a lot to distract himself from the pain.
The pain, Matt went through made him an inspiration it’s because of his fight and his will to keep fighting. Today, Matt has become living proof that any hardship and problem can be turned into positive with willpower.
More about the Venture
XaaS helps companies improve their cybersecurity, removing the ‘witchcraft’ and subjectivity by helping them define and then guiding them through their transformation journey. The company has two products, ‘Advance’, the enterprise product designed for companies who want to undertake a full transformation, and ‘Evolve’ the cutdown solution aimed at helping improve the cybersecurity of small businesses by guiding them through a much more simplified journey to be secure, in line with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and CyberEssentials.
Further, Matt explained, “Our metacore-X platform allows you to assess yourself against our baseline model (mapped to the industry standard control frameworks such as NIST and ISO 27001), taking into account your constraints (time, budget, resource and risk appetite) and then delivers you a step by step dynamic roadmap, tracking progress and offering reporting. Using an analogy, we offer turn by turn navigation like modern day SatNavs, rather than the traditional line drawn on a map route.”
The Inspiration of Becoming an Author
Matt has been fortunate enough to meet a lot of different characters along the way. In particular, he has met many people at the top of their field, and they all had one thing in common… they were giving back. They mentored, they helped their colleagues and acquaintances, not out of expectation, but because they felt it was the right thing to do. The help and guidance he was given by them made Matt want to pay it forward. When the opportunity with Neil Strauss came up, it felt like a book was a way to support even more people than he can in person, hopefully preventing them from making some of his mistakes.
Clients & the Unbreakable Faith
The clientele of XaaS includes businesses of any size. Whether a global enterprise going through a planned transformation or a small one-man plumber, the team helps make cybersecurity easier.
Matt ensures the unbreakable faith of his clients by being pragmatic, open, and honest. If he does not know or cannot do something he is upfront about it, then where possible he puts them in touch with the people that can.
Challenges & Learnings on the Way
Jim McKelvey defines an Innovation Stack as “a series of inventions that differentiates a company and allows it to completely dominate a market”.
Initially, Matt and his team did not understand what they were doing with XaaS, they just had a proven idea and methodology. As they realised the extent of what they were doing, it quickly became a question of, “How do you find the time to build not just a product, but an entire innovation stack of solutions, whilst getting to market quickly?”
They knew the big things that needed to be done, everyone has those large milestones in their start-up plan, but the journey so far has taught Matt that those big things aren’t the important ones, it’s the hundreds of ‘micro-challenges that each needed solving and how they drove them down the path as they built what had become not a single innovation, but a combination of innovations all working together symbiotically, their own XaaS Innovation Stack.
Who Helped Matt in the Journey?
His dad was the single most influential person in who he is today. Matt’s gift for innovation is in great part from his perception of how to handle challenges in the world. His father taught him a couple of key lessons that have served him well… that anything can be fixed with enough duct tape and superglue and that no problem is unsolvable.
DailY Routine
Matt shared his daily routine, “I tend to get up between 06:00 and 07:00 depending on whether I’m travelling to London. My breakfast is usually a protein shake and a bulletproof coffee, with my first call between 07:30 and 08:00. Then I answer emails and do my ‘admin tasks’ until 09:00. Next is 15-30 minutes for me to do that day’s Power MBA session.”
“09:30 – 18:30 is the core of my day with our team or our clients. My time is spent doing anything from administrative paperwork needed as you build a business, to product workshops, client meetings, strategy sessions, or interviews.”
“Assuming I’m at home, at 18:30(ish) I spend some time with my daughters and put them to bed at 20:00. Then, I take my meal and spend some time with my wife. At about 22:00 I’m back out in my office working or writing. If I haven’t wound down, I’ll read for an hour before going to bed at about 02:00.”
Favourite Book
‘Trillion Dollar Coach by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, Alan Eagle”
Future Roadmap
When asked about his future plans, Matt said, “Whilst at the moment we might be focussing on cyber security, the methodology we apply to transformation journeys at XaaS can be applied to many challenges in the industry and in our personal lives. This means that we are able to expand XaaS to multiple transformation themes, both in industry and for personal use.”
A Piece of Advice
Now more than ever there is a place for entrepreneurs. It doesn’t matter if you’re female, male, nor your race, your ethnicity, or your belief system. If you have a vision then go for it. Don’t let ANYONE tell you it can’t be done or you can’t do it, but remember to make it true to yourself.
Just remember that you’re going to get setbacks and you’re going to get blockers. You WILL fall before you fly, but that is a part of the game. It’s those falls that teach you the best lessons.
Favourite Quote
“Remember: You can always quit tomorrow”
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